In a long monologue, the narrator recounts the eerie failure of his marriage. Discharged dishonorably from the army due to a refused duel, he has established himself as a pawnbroker and married a young, impoverished girl known as "the Gentle One." However, happiness is short-lived: the mismatched couple begins to argue more and more intensely, and eventually, the Gentle One turns to a young officer. When the narrator discovers this, a full-blown marital war erupts. A murder attempt by the young woman fails, and in response, the narrator divides their shared apartment with a partition. A grotesque situation that continues to escalate.